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Thursday, 12 August 2010

Don't Tell Me "No"

How many times a day do you see or hear the word “No”?

No salt, No trans fat, No cholesterol, No sugar, No plastic, No animals, No bare feet, No smokers, No talking, No spitting, No crossing on the red light …No entry, No exit, No parking, No loitering, No pools without fences, No bikes, No phones while driving, No unattended children…….....No diving in the shallow end, No gum, No running in the halls, No change, No swearing, No copying, No flash cameras, No Deposit No Return……….. Post No signs. Whew!

No frills, No point, No nonsense, No problem, No hype, No strings attached…..No excuses, No interest, No sweat, No apologies, No fault, No regrets, No cause.......No guts No glory…..…No way.......No questions asked and No damn good.

No, Non, Nein, Nae, Nne

Really, what sort of people need a sign to tell them “No spitting”? Same for “No unattended children”. Are the spitters aiming at the kids who have No supervision? What’s going on here?

Sure there are some “No” signs that are necessary but this is getting to be a bit much! Case in point – ‘No crossing on a red light’. If you’re old enough to cross the street, you know what the lights are for! (Although people in Montreal pretty well ignore this one and the sign makes absolutely No difference).

“No assembly required”. I don’t need to know if I DON’T have to assemble the thing, I need to know if assembly IS required so I won’t buy it. (Besides which, if I buy a table and it’s in a flat box, I can pretty well figure out that the legs aren’t attached and won't hop on by themselves).